What man has made, Gods will brave
by Fablesofamayfly
Summary: Tony finally popped the question a miracle in itself, but trouble has come knocking again, but it seems Pepper has a cousin that could help. Captain America/OC
1. Chapter 1

(Hello! I know I haven't written anything in a very long time but I think this is a perfect story to come back with. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, this is all the work of masters, and I am simply an amateur with an idea. The only thing I won is Saffron, and even that is a little iffy because she's actually a combination of a comic book character and Saffron from Joss Whedon's Firefly. But less skanky and thievy.)

/

The Stark Tower was still in repair after all the damage it had received in the battle against Loki and the Chitauri army, and wind blew in from the broken windows of the top floor that was Tony Stark's penthouse. Police and various news teams stood outside of the tower, the events of the night still a confused jumble but all anyone knew was that an attempt had been made of the life of Pepper Potts.

Tony and Pepper had finished talking to the police as well as their S.H.I.E.L.D protection detail and they were finally alone. Pepper was still shaken up as Tony led her to their new bedroom that was on the far side of the building from the damaged parts of the tower. She silently sat on the bed and allowed him to undress her and lay her into bed, quickly undressing himself and climbed in behind her, wrapped her up in his arms and soothed her to sleep.

…

The next day Pepper searched all his usual places and finally found Tony standing outside on the balcony, staring off into the darkening sky.

"Have you eaten today? And I don't mean anything that qualifies as liquid." Pepper approached him and quickly found his hand; he immediately pulled her close to him. The battle and the loss of Phil Coulson and to top it off the attack on Pepper, still shook the snarky billionaire, his fear kept him up at night and made him constantly worry about the safety of the only person that he cared about more than himself.

Three weeks ago the light in his chest had been out and that was it, there was nothing more to it, the one thing he would regretted was that he never said goodbye to her but the Hulk had other plans. It was not a feeling he would ever get used to, not that he ever wanted to, but it had become a bit of a habit the last few years.

Breathing in the scent of her hair, Tony pulled away and looked into her eyes and uttered four simple words.

"Will you marry me?"

…

After a few months and a few more attempted attacks, the Avengers team started to pile into the tower and take up residence, none of them specifying why. None of that was half as strange to Pepper as what happened a week after the team moved in.

It had been a few months now of convincing each other that it wouldn't or would be a good idea to get married in public, or not tell anyone at all. Then the decision was made that the wedding would be on the top balcony of the tower, which meant waiting for the towers repairs to be completed, then they finally were able to start going through the process of planning the wedding, but there was one small detail that Tony was about to change.

"Here's the deal, I'll pay for any kind of wedding your heart desires, only if you allow me one thing." Tony looked at his soon-to-be bride and smiled his best dazzling debonair smile. Pepper sighed and glanced up at him, already swamped with paper work that needed to be handled before they took leave for their honeymoon which was still at the least a month away.

"Tony, as I have said before, you can have a bachelor party as long as you show up on time for the ceremony, in your tux and never, ever tell me what transpired." She continued with her paperwork, not giving Tony a chance to catch her attention again. Pepper reached her hand to her phone and pressed the page button, requesting that her assistant bring in the payroll paperwork so she could sign off on the days she wouldn't be there.

"That's actually not what I was going to ask for but I will hold you to that, it's less about the foreplay and more about the protection." Tony had come to sit in the chair across his fiancé's desk and just waited for her assistant. Pepper gave him a curious look before turning to her office door that opened to reveal a young woman who was holding the paperwork that her assistant should have brought in.

"Hello?" Pepper greeted the woman and threw Tony a suspicious glare, not exactly knowing what he was up to this time set her off balance. "Please tell me that this isn't another S.H.I.E.L.D agent."

Tony tried to dazzle her again with his smile and failed, again. Shaking his head he stood and threw an arm around the younger woman. "Not even remotely connected to S.H.I.E.L.D, which is exactly why I picked her, and replaced your old assistant, who by the way was stealing sticky notes and thought no one would notice."

Pepper shook her head, closed her eyes and raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, recognizing that all too familiar Stark related headache. "Tony… Why did you bring her in?" opening her eyes she looked at him with patience and tolerance, knowing that was the only way to really get any real information out of him.

"Well, since the Avengers have decided to stick close by, they are under a most watchful eye by our newest big brother S.H.I.E.L.D, myself included, I wanted to make sure nothing could ruin our day and any days leading up to said day, and any day after said day. Also I picked her because she looks like you; which is in fact crucial to the story that we are going to sell in case Pirate Fury comes sniffing around, she is to be your long lost cousin who needed a job. " Trying to be convincing as well as sincere was really an effort for Tony; he thought to himself that Pepper should be proud that he's thinking of others. Well mostly just about protecting her. As well as screwing S.H.I.E.L.D over if at all possible.

"Okay…" Pepper narrowed her eyes, feeling slight jolts of pain radiating up her neck from her very tense shoulders. Sighing and standing in the same breath, Pepper brushed the wrinkles out of her suit and addressed the younger woman with a smile. Walking around the desk she held out her hand and introduced herself, no matter if it was pointless, it was polite.

"It's very nice to meet you Ms. Potts; Mr. Stark has told me much about you. You're quite impressive." The woman smiled and shook her hand with a firm grip, belying her size with her strength.

"So, since you will be working me and apparently are now related to me, what is your name?" Pepper looked at her expectantly waiting for her reply when Tony interjected. "She won't even tell me, some kind of code of arms, or was it coat of arms?" Tony ignored the glare coming from the newest member of the Stark Company.

"Since she's going to be your cousin, I say we stick with a spice name of some sort. But not salt, that would be far too obvious." Tony started thinking about names of kitchen spices as the women began to converse.

"So you will be my protection detail for the foreseeable future?" Pepper looked her over tactfully, taking notice of her light coloring; the light freckles that seemed to cover her from head to toe, Tony was right, they did bare a striking resemblance in coloring, not quite so in features and height. Pepper stood almost a foot taller than her but that wouldn't be enough to make anyone suspicious, and the woman's features were softer and more rounded compared to Pepper's angular structure.

"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry for you to find out this way, Mr. Stark informed me that you already knew."

"Did he?" Pepper stuck him with a well place look that spoke of a conversation that they would definitely be having later. "So what is the back story that he's decided to go with for this?" Tony decided to interject upon the woman's behalf again, not really caring what she would have said anyway.

"She was a college student back home in Iowa and her parents passed in a tragic…uh house fire. Yes, house fire will fit nicely; it will make up for her lack of paperwork proof that you two are related. And since she was out of family and home, she came to her beautiful cousin who gave her a job and a home from the very goodness of her heart." Tony once again tried his best beam, but was shot down by Pepper's eyes that saw right through his bullshit.

"We can call her Rosemary! Wait, no, that sounded better when I was thinking it. What's another spice name?" Musing to himself for a moment before once again cutting the woman off just as she opened her mouth. "Saffron! Saffron Potts. Has a nice ring to it." He puffed out his chest in a display of self-pride as the women rolled their eyes in unison.

"There, see? Already taking after each other." With his work done he proudly bid the women goodbye and went to treat himself to a victory of the liquid variety.

"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Saffron." Pepper smiled and began discussing what she would need of her newfound cousin, since Tony had replaced her assistant without any notice. The woman was a quick learner and very well mannered; she would be a nice addition to the building.

….

Surveying his handy work on Pepper's new family tree that now included her 'cousin' as well as her deceased aunt and uncle. Leaning back in his chair, Tony stretched his arms high and decided to find someone to brag to. Walking out of his lab, he followed the familiar path to his large kitchen in one of the lower levels of the tower, which had become home to the Avengers.

"Man of Iron! My brother in arms! It is good to see you, friend. We have all greatly felt your absence in the planning of your marriage ceremony." Thor's entirely too enthusiastic greeting met Tony's ears just as he entered the kitchen. Thor himself sat at the table with Jane seated on his lap, Clint sat near them at the table with a folder in hand. "I didn't notice any difference in his absence, just enjoyed it."

Tony disregarded Clint and turned to Thor and Jane who seemed to really be enjoying each other… on his furniture. Gross. "Is there a chair shortage that I'm not aware of?"

Jane pulled away from Thor's lips and giggled as her face started turning red, apologizing quickly she led the lumbering God of Thunder out of the kitchen, not leaving anyone with a curious thought of what they were going to do. It was obvious.

Natasha swept into the room silently as Tony got a cup of coffee until Clint's voice stopped his hand. "Saffron Potts the orphaned daughter of Thomas and Rosemary Potts, birth certificate: missing, Social security number: forged, date and place of birth: unknown, place of residence before the Stark Tower, gee what a shocker, that's unknown too." Clint closed the file and pinned Tony with a hard look.

"Rosemary and Saffron, was that really the best you could do, Stark? Be honest, you just opened your spice cabinet and blindly picked two, didn't you?" Natasha slid into the chair next to her archer companion and opened the file again.

"You two are way too good at your jobs. I just finished with her family tree, how do you have the file already? Are you two cyborgs? Oh, please be cyborgs that would make my day." Tony's emotions were of wide range and heavily doused with sarcasm but he was still a bit surprised that the two agents already had his phony info on Pepper's 'cousin' in their hands, on paper.

He suddenly had a fear that he hadn't secured it enough but then again the only two people that could really do anything about it or cared to, were sitting in front of him.

"Smart move, despite the horrible names, I think it was best that you brought her in. I may still be an agent but that doesn't mean I still trust them." Natasha and Clint had been wary of Director Fury and the organization that failed to tell their two best agents about the weapons that they were creating, since the battle with Loki. They had returned to their posts but opted to stay in Stark Tower when they were not needed, partly due to the nice pile of dirt that Tony was gathering on S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Nice to know I have your approval, but I really wasn't asking for it." Tony waved his hand at them and left them to their own devices.

….

Saffron talked with Pepper for a while about her schedule and what she would need, what her family was like since it was now Saffron's family too, and among other things Pepper informed her that the Avengers were in fact living in the Tower along with Tony and herself as well as the Astrophysicist Jane Foster and her assistant Darcy Lewis. Saffron had done her own research on the team of heroes, and found that they had been volatile when thrown together until they found a common goal to fight for.

It was unsettling that it took such a tragedy to make them set aside their egos and fight the good fight. It made her slightly edgier than usual that there were such uncontrollable personalities under the same roof, however high up the roof might be. She was mentally mapping out the layout of each floor even though she had plenty of copies of the blue print, but she was a hands-on learner.

Walking past what looked to be a library and saw the young woman Jane Foster in the arms of the Thunder God Thor, who immediately knew someone else was near them and looked up just as Saffron turned away from them, not wanting to be seen so early.

Jane and Thor walked by her barely acknowledging her in their hurry to be somewhere private, but as Thor swept by Saffron he froze. There was something that caught his attention, something familiar about the woman's presence that was sending all of his asgardian senses racking his brain for what it could be. Jane tugged him along, just giggling in her giddy haze at the confused looked that he had. As they rounded the corner, Thor looked back and crystal blue met pale green in split second recognition.

Saffron quickly made her way to what she knew to be the kitchen where Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff sat with what looked to be her falsified file. Clint looked up and nudged Natasha as Saffron began looking the kitchen, investigating everything that seemed necessary.

"Ms. Potts, correct?" Natasha greeted in a guarded tone, forcing Saffron to make it comfortable between them by immediately responding to her new name with a nod and a smile, she stepped toward them with her hand extended and it was Clint who stood and met her half way, shaking her hand while introducing Natasha.

The perturbed Agent that still sat at the table nodded as she noticed Clint's face, he had a sort of loopy look on his face, as if he was looking at his favorite childhood candy. Natasha scoffed and stood, sweeping out of the room, dragging Clint with her and Saffron was alone in the room.

"Well, this should be fun." Saffron sighed and leaned against the counter behind her, closing her eyes and silently almost regretted taking the job.

….

As the first day turned into the second, then the third; Saffron was learning a lot about the resident heroes, and much to the dismay of a certain agent, the heroes weren't learning much about her. As the first week came to a close, it found the Avengers all gathering around a table on the balcony of Tony's flat on a Sunday evening.

Thor bellowed out a mighty laugh as Tony finished his story of how he had proposed to Pepper, Saffron had just walked into the large lounge area, carefully watching the group that sat at the table outside. She hadn't met all of them yet, being as it was a very large building and she didn't really have the time to seek out all of them. As Agent Romanoff spotted her, Saffron approached and gracefully stepped out to the balcony and greeted everyone.

"Ah, if it isn't mini Potts! My third favorite kind of pot! So glad you could join us, and out of uniform too." Tony had a large slightly drunken grin on his face as he slung an arm around her and guided her to a chair in between Steve Rodgers and Thor. For a moment she shifted uncomfortably at being so close to the Asgardian but it quickly faded as she smiled at all the eyes that were now on her.

"Well I figured it was time I meet the rest of the legendary Avengers, I've only had the pleasure of meeting a few of you." She was about to introduce herself to Steve when Tony cut her off with his bragging.

"See, I told you she looked like Pepper, I mean not really but enough to not be weird and subtle enough that if she starts getting crazy or goes on a coke binge, she won't be mistaken for Pepper." Tony smiled and took a sip of his drink, completely oblivious to the glare of death that his intended bride was sending him.

"And what Tony means by that is, she is a perfect fit to supposedly being related to me, she's very professional and very much a lady." Pepper smiled at Saffron and reached over the table to hand her a drink of champagne.

"Thank you very much, you're too kind. I will say that this has been one of my easier assignments as of late, and I'm very thankful to be able to be in the presence of such legends." She raised her glass and glanced at Tony, seeing that he was now engaged in conversation with Dr. Banner, she was able to introduce herself to the famous Captain America without interruption.

"Hello Captain Rodgers, I've heard a lot about you, it's an honor; my name is Saffron." She held her hand out and watched as he smiled and took it with slight hesitation. He was dazzlingly handsome as all the stories said, but not as charming as people had led her to believe, he had a shy way about him. Saffron held onto his hand a second longer than necessary, before pulling away and sitting back, removing herself from his personal bubble, which smelled enticing, but kept herself in a position that read open for conversation.

"Steve, please ma'am. It's nice meeting you, although I have a feeling Tony has been telling tall tales about you; you don't seem…um you don't look like you could…uh well your very… lacking in stature?" She had to stop herself from smiling at the way he fumbled and flustered as he tried not to offend her. He sat there scratching his head and blushing ever so slightly when Hawkeye started chortling next to Natasha across the table from the flustered man.

Natasha had even cracked a smile as Steve covered his eyes and sighed at his own stupidity. Saffron cleared her throat a bit and replied with a tone that Natasha knew all too well. "Well, if you're wondering if what Tony says is true, and are wondering how I get the job done with being as small as I am; then the answer is yes and I always find a way." Tony grinned with inappropriate smugness as the others took in the information and quickly decided to pretend nothing happened, different conversations resumed between them as Steve looked down at his hands.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to imply anything or offend you, ma'am." He looked at her from under his lashes, trying his best to project his apology. Saffron was honestly use to that question, in her line of work; the issue tends to come up. She sighed and crossed her arms, noting how his eyes flicked down for a half second, barely noticeable had she not been looking for it. "Don't be sorry, I was a bit rude I'm sorry, it's nothing new really, to be asked about it, but I would much rather talk about you or possibly anything else at all." She smiled at him trying to ease the tension. He smiled and moved his arms to fold them but stopped and put them back down, not knowing what to do with himself.

"Well then how do you do? I'm Steve Rodgers, I've been known for my skills in putting my foot in my mouth, and you are?" He put his best smile on and put his hand out, shaking her hand before quickly pulled away. He began asking about her life before the big city, to which she gave a few short vague answers, never letting out any information that sounded solid. Natasha knew the act all too well as she watched the woman and Rodgers chat about nothing at all.

The agent had already run her picture through every database known to man and machine and nothing came up. All that was left was to make sure she was even human, which a few years ago that thought would have been more of a joke than an actual reality.

As the even wore on, two by two the team and their significant others retreated for the night, leaving only the agents and Saffron and Steve at the table. Conversation died down between the four of them and Natasha decided to take her leave, Clint quickly following, only stopping to bid their goodnights and Clint called over his shoulder. "Are you calling it a night too, Captain? I'll hold the elevator."

Steve's eyes were currently locked onto Saffron's face as she looked out over the night sky, shaking his head he looked at Clint, who could tell that the answer would be no, and the agents walked away.

"I don't trust her." Natasha let out as the elevator doors closed; Clint nodded his head in acknowledgment.

..

Saffron and Steve sat in silence for a few minutes; she watched the skies while he fidgeted until gathering enough courage to speak again now that they were alone. He tried not to stare at her but the way her face looked in the candle light and her eyes shone bright as she stared at the stars, kept him mesmerized. She suddenly let out a large sigh and closed her eyes, slouching a little in her chair, almost like a switch had been flipped and let out all the pressure and tension she had been holding in.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been the most interesting company, it's actually a bit of a tough job to be on guard all the time, especially when I have the Black Widow trying to find something incriminating on me." She finally opened her eyes and looked at him, looking more worn than she should for someone so young, it made him want to reach out to her, no young woman as beautiful as her should be so weary.

"Why do you think Agent Romanoff is trying to find dirt on you? It doesn't seem like she has any suspicions." Steve tried to do his best to be convincing but he found himself wondering if there was anything for Romanoff to find. All the things he had heard about her and having read her file, it made him wonder how much more was there to this small woman besides her obvious reason for being hired.

"Let's just call it a woman's intuition. I know I am an outsider, along with not declaring my allegiance to any agencies or countries for that matter, I'm sure she's just trying to make sure there are no wolves in her hen house." Saffron let her frustrations go into the night as she took a deep breath of cool air. Deciding to take her leave she stood and turned to say goodnight to Rodgers, but almost ran into his chest as he stood and turned to do the same. They apologized to each other awkwardly and walked together to the elevator, riding in silence until the doors opened on her floor.

"It was a pleasure talking with you, and I'm sure we'll run into each other again." Saffron said and smiled at him, extended her hand once more. "The pleasure was all mine, ma'am, and I do hope to see more of you." His eyes widened as he realized what came out of his mouth. "I didn't mean it like that, I promise, I just meant that… you know, see you around." He shook her hand and let the elevator doors closed him in with his stupidity. Steve huffed a sigh and leaned back against the elevator wall, awaiting his floor while his mind wandered back to Saffron, the tiniest bodyguard he had ever seen. Pushing off the wall as he stopped on his floor, his brain began picking at their conversation, wondering why he couldn't seem to shake it off, wondering why Natasha was so suspicious of her, and why Thor was so quiet after she joined them, Steve can't recall him saying more than a few words the rest of the night. Steve decided to shrug it off for the night and get some sleep; nothing could be done about it for the moment.

…

(Enjoy! Please review, even if you have awful things to say, I wanna know how to make this story better.)


	2. Chapter 2

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything except maybe Saffron, but even she is mostly owned by the Genius Joss Whedon, who owns everything else in here too.)

Chapter 2: Who is that?

After that night, the tower seemed fairly empty, like everyone was avoiding each other in unison, it was causing tension to build and knot in the shoulders of the super soldier. As a result of the serum and the decades that he had spent asleep, Rodgers didn't need nearly as much as most of the other residents in the tower, Thor being an exception. As the Captain wandered the halls for a while, he decided it was time to get some rest, maybe stare at the ceiling above his bed until morning, which had become almost calming for as often as it happened.

Letting his feet guide him, he made it back to his room in no time; his hand hovered over the handle for half a second as a slight sound caught his attention. Wanting to brush it off as the agents down the hall trying to soothe their loneliness, as they called it, but it was much closer than that. Turning his head he looked at the door across from his, trying to bring to mind who might be staying there; he took a step towards the door and he heard it again, the soft sob of a woman, and instantly he knew who was on the other side of the door.

He thought to raise his hand and knock but he could tell that she was asleep; her breathing was slow, shaking his head he turned away and retreated into his room. Steve had never been able to watch a woman cry, he hadn't seen it much but it was something that never sat right with him. Dropping onto the bed, the Captain kicked off his boots and shed his shirt, not bothering to get under the covers or do anything more to get comfortable, he wasn't expecting sleep to come but he closed his eyes and the next thing he knew…

_He had just stepped out of the machine as the new Steve Rodgers, he knew he was dreaming but he couldn't care; he could see the doctor and Peggy, smiling at him with pride. Then a shot rang out. The smile was gone. The doctor was dead. Then all he could see was red, the red blood of his friend, the red lips of Peggy, the red skull of his enemy. _

_Then he saw nothing but bright hot light, it warmed his skin and lapped at his lungs as he took a deep breath, filling his nose with a familiar scent. It was soft and fresh, like a spring day, it took hold of his dream and pulled him in tight, making the waking world seem like a distant nightmare. Steve let himself drift into this new dream, relishing the comfort he had found. But it all stopped in an instant, and he was falling into black, where there were no shapes or forms in the darkness. Suddenly a glimmer appeared in front of him, he reached toward it and pulled himself into a place that rushed to meet him. It was a meadow in the woods, nothing identifiable as to where or when it was but the glimmer that he had seen now lay in the middle of the clearing. A small bunch of cloths around a light that barely burned, he took cautious steps toward it, watching the light grow and move. Standing mere feet from it, Steve halted in his place as it stood, revealing a person standing there with arms stretched wide. The light expanded, engulfing the figure and spread into every corner of the field, blowing Steve back into reality._

Gasping for air, Rodgers sat up, checking himself for any wounds and the room for intruders with a sweep of his eyes. Blowing out a sigh he ran a hand over his face and sat on the edge of his bed.

Steve looked around his room, not feeling very at home in the Stark tower, but then again he didn't feel very at home anywhere. The time he spent sleeping was full of tragedies and sacrifices, it was hard for him to accept that the country he had willingly risked his life and limb for, tried to destroy itself. He needed more air than the expansive room would allow, so he made his way to the gym. Tony had made many modifications since the battle, which made the tower livable to the very unique residents such as the gyms, one on every third floor that held living quarters; as well as a library and two extensive labs and who knows what other changes Stark had deemed necessary.

After he pumped his anger into the pads and equipment, he just sat on a bench, his dream still gnawing away at him. He couldn't make sense of it, what was that light, and why had he dreamt of a place he's never been. Before long Natasha and Clint joined him in the gym, sparring as they spoke quietly, either not caring or not realizing that the Captain could hear it all.

"So what do you want to do about her? I think we should stay out of it." Clint blocked her physically but only fueled her fire verbally. Throwing her knee into his side Natasha shook her head "No, I think this is something we need to take care of. Who knows what kind of access Tony has given her or what kind of information she might already have. I say we eliminate the threat." Jabbing her way into close quarters with him, Natasha tried to get the upper hand while keeping her emotions in check.

"I don't think that is the answer, also I don't think Tony would let her near anything sensitive without being certain that she could be trusted. He would at least have a contingency plan." Breaking away from her, he looked at her for a moment before she shook her head and walked over to a bench across from the Captain.

"So why is it that you want to eliminate Saffron?" Using the woman's name got the desired effect as Natasha glared at him; Steve refused to refer to her as a threat or a target, which is how Agent Romanoff seemed to view everything. "What has you so interested, Cap? Do you feel protective over her but can't understand why? You wouldn't be the only one." Natasha slid her eyes in Clint's direction, not bothering to acknowledge the indignant look on Hawkeye's face.

"Maybe I just don't like bullies." Steve pinned her with a hard stare from his striking blue eyes and walked away.

…...

As the days turned into weeks, the team was researching into the attacks, it was still a mystery as to who could have gotten as close to Pepper as they did. Saffron was beginning to settle into a routine with Pepper and the rest of the residence of the stark tower. It was strange and often hectic with the various missions the team had been sent on lately, none of them were very trusting of the content of the missions because Fury had stood by them during the battle but had caused ripples in their trust when they discovered the truth behind Shields involvement in the Tesseract. Lately though their missions had consisted of finding any Chitauri weapons that had been scattered around the city, but Tony had other things on his mind.

As Tony poured over the security footage from the closest attack, trying to find some sort of identifying evidence while Thor sat near him watching a corner of the screen which was displaying some Spanish weather channel.

"Man of Iron, my lady Jane has been rather upset with me, I cannot understand why. I traveled from Asgard for her, I want to make my lady happy but lately I feel I have done something to wrong her." He looked down at his hands as he spoke, a gesture not suited for the god of thunder. Tony took his attention from the screen to look at his forlorn houseguest. Sighing, Tony turned the screen off and had a seat next to Thor, clapping a hand on the gods shoulder and shared his knowledge.

"Women are crazy with occasional lucid moments that usually happen during sex and then they go back to being crazy. My best advice is to ask her what's wrong, right after you give her the big O." Tony winked and pushed himself off of the seat and went back to his work. Thor scratched his head and crossed his arms, not really making any sense of what his friend had just said, so he went in search of the one they call Hawkeye, but yet the man himself proclaimed that his name was Clint. It was confusing that the mortals had so many names for just one person, the average human had three names, or so Jane had told him.

On his way to find Clint an alarm started sounding throughout the building, the Avengers were now on high alert as Jarvis replaced the alarm. "I'm sorry to alarm you but there is an intruder in the tower, I have locked him in on level 23." The team filtered into the stairway from various floors, but somehow no one made it there before Saffron, who had been aware of the intruder before Jarvis. She had caught a glimpse of someone unfamiliar when she was on her way out of the building, instead she followed him and managed to get him alone.

Her shoes sat at the end of the hallway she had followed the man down, she couldn't risk him hearing her, as he turned the corner she spotted one of the many miniature access points to Jarvis, they were scattered around the building in case of anything such as this happening. Pressing a few buttons, remembering the manual Tony had given to the letter, she whispered to Jarvis to wait three minutes then to alert the building and to lock down the level she was on. Once done she crept to the corner and peaked around quickly, seeing the intruder at yet another access point to Jarvis, but he was having a bit of trouble with the device he had brought to hack the building; it was apparently too low tech to even access Jarvis's mainframe, much less plug into the mini access port.

She waited until he was too frustrated with the tech to notice her creeping along the far wall behind him, once she was close enough she twisted and landed a swift kick to his temple, knocking him unconscious as he slid a few feet away from where his feet had been planted. Smoothing her suit she pushed her short hair behind her ear and grabbed the intruder and dragged him to a nearby chair, taking the rope and gun from the bag he had with him. All of the sudden, all the windows and doors shut and locked automatically, Saffron smiled and silently thanked Jarvis for being precise. Securing the man to the chair she heard him start to wake up, as well as the very loud approach of the Avengers.

The team burst into the hallway, guns ablaze as they caught sight of Saffron with a gun pointing at the intruders knee cap as he sat there tied to a chair. Tony huffed and leaned against a table to watch while Steve and Thor and the agents wrestled with intervening and waiting to see what happens. "You will tell me who sent you here."

"You're a fool if you think I'm stupid enough to talk, I had one mission and I could not finish it, you might as well kill me." He snarled at her and spat in her face, making her flinch ever so slightly, Steve decided that was enough; he stepped forward, stopping just before he reached her as Tony spoke up. "Okay I think it's time for us to take over little lady, why don't you go wash that off." Tony smirked as he walked over; stopping beside the trespasser he put his hands out for the gun. "I'll take that, I'm sure you wouldn't want to get blood all over your pretty suit." Saffron looked at Tony before pulling the trigger, sending a bullet shattering through the intruders kneecap. Tony took a step back and made a disgusted face at the gore that now stained his pants. The man screamed in agony as he looked at his now mangled leg, calming himself down to a whimper, he stared up at Saffron with a hardened look. Steve was slightly disturbed, but somehow he couldn't say the guy didn't ask for it, he noticed that the man wasn't going to give up just because of a bullet hole.

"Alright so pain doesn't do much, what about prison time? Does that frighten you at all?" She looked at his face, and noticed the fear seep into his eyes at the thought of a penitentiary. "So that's it, I have a feeling that you've already served time. Was this a way to get out?" The man shook his head and tried to regain his courage, taking deep breathes; he looked at the redhead again and tried to give that same tough look. She looked into his eyes, making his breathe shudder and his pupils dilate, she leaned closer and reached out to his thoughts, a skill she had developed quite recently, and found what she needed. "Got it." She whispered his face fell as he cast his eyes down. She had learned to control and reach out with her mind from a witchdoctor in the rainforests last year; it had come in handy more times than she could count.

Saffron huffed and moved away him, trying to shake off the strange feeling she had, it always happened when she brushed another mind, there was no getting used to it. "He should be primed to tell you what you need to know." Handing off the gun to Captain America, not wanting to look him in the eyes, she walked away. The agents untied him and carried him away to a detention cell to get more information; Tony and Thor watched her carefully as she pushed through the door and left, the men locked eyes and followed her out the door.

"What was that? I don't believe I saw interrogation on your resume." Tony called out to her, halting her stride. He wasn't so much worried about what he didn't know about her, he was more interested in what the world didn't know about her. There was something very different about her, which was why he had hired her, he knew she would get the job done but there was also a mystery there, a challenge.

"Really, Tony, is that the only oddity you saw on my supposed resume, which you wrote?!" She turned to him, blood on her clothes and her eyes burned and just for a moment she looked unearthly dangerous before she blinked and it was suddenly just something they thought they saw. "Forget it, look I did what you wanted, I've kept Pepper safe and handed you a person that could tell you why she is being attacked, what more do you pay me for?" She walked away and left them to their judgments.

Thor watched her; he knew that something was wrong, she was not what she seems. The way she looked was something he had seen before, the image of this woman standing there smeared with blood and almost glowing with power and her eyes burning brighter than they should have, it didn't sit well with him.

. . . . . . .

Saffron's mind was still reeling as her feet brought her to library, finding a book that looked distracting and manageable to read, Saffron sat in a lounge chair near the back of the stacks. She looked down at her clothes that were splattered with blood and her bare feet, remembering she had left her shoes on a completely different level. Saffron sighed and waved her hand, turning the suit into a blouse and jeans, thankful for the few tricks she had learned over the years. Sitting there for a while she just stared at the book cover for a moment, not really seeing it though, she lost herself in a memory.

'_A gaping hole in the sky was the ominous sign that something had penetrated the mortal world. A woman draped in scorched crème cloths, lay shaking from the journey in a small clearing, just a mile outside of a small Swedish village. The only place she remembered about this world, the only place Balder could think to banish his former betrothed while still giving her a fighting chance. She crawled away from the small crater she had made, her breath starting to hitch as reality set in, she had been exiled to earth with death as punishment if she tried to return. Someone came to stand in front of her blocking her path; she looked up and saw an old woman holding a staff, something seemed very familiar about her though. The old woman told her that she had been in the same village her whole life and had been just a girl last time she had come to earth. Sobbing from the memories she was now trapped with, she told the old woman what had happen in her world, that she had lost her love and her home and was now stuck on earth. _

_Unable to except that such a powerful creature had been reduced to a sobbing, whimpering mess, the old woman became enraged. __"Look at what you have caused! That tear will not close unless you close it, did you think you could come here with no repercussions?! How selfish you have become, Nanna!" Jerking away from the old witch, she covered her face, not wanting to see the destruction she had caused in her fall._

"_You lost what you love, Nanna, are you going to let the mortal world suffer those consequences?!" The witched screamed at her as other worldly beasts started to crawl their way into the mortal world. Screams echoed out as villagers and towns people began running for their lives. She cried as she looked toward the sky again where she had just fallen from, the hole in the sky mimicked the one she felt in her heart. The witched scoffed at her weakness and pointed her crooked staff at the cowering Asgardian, drawing forth a burst of pure white hot energy from her, the witch absorbed it through her staff and sent it toward the sky, mending the tear. _

"_You are a pathetic excuse for a Goddess; you don't deserve that power! You will never know peace again if you stay on this planet! I will make sure of it." The witch hissed at her as Nanna ran from the field she had landed in, this planet was untamable and harsh; it felt so different than the last time she was here, that was over a hundred years ago for the mortals. The witch had made it known to her that she would never know peace on this world, but it was now her home, it was not the home she wanted but she had no other.'_

She shook her head, shaking off the memory as she heard footsteps approaching…

,,,,,,

Natasha had a keen eye and mind for human behavior, although she wasn't overly fond of showing her emotions, she was quick to pick up on everyone else's; which is why she was becoming more and more suspicious about Saffron every day that passed. She was starting to see something else, something more dangerous lingering there, it was well disguised, but Natasha thought it was worth keeping an eye on.

All that aside, it was her complete avoidance and utter lack of acknowledging the very noticeable god of thunder every time she was near him. But what perturbed the agent even more was Thor's equally strange reaction to Saffron, it seemed that her very presence brought on this strange look that the agent had come to learn was his confused face. Jane seemed to be getting the wrong idea about it and kept huffing and puffing every time Thor seemed to have his attention somewhere besides her.

Clint had noticed Thor's behavior but was less accepting that Saffron might be acting strangely as well. Saffron seemed to have some sort of thrall over him, over almost every human male she came in contact with for that matter, not anything near mind control but they seemed to feel instinctually protective and drawn to her. The only exception being Tony, but he tended to be an exception to most things. All of these thoughts had Natasha's feet moving to their own accord and she found herself in the library, where she had seen Saffron heading toward last time she looked at the cameras. Natasha stealthily crept through the stacks, searching for her target. The agent knew that she should find it a good thing that the intruder from earlier had given them vital information, but her mind was too preoccupied with this woman. Saffron was too good at her job, suspiciously so, and with no training on record it put the agent on edge since her arrival. With her daily attitude it didn't sit well that she was so easy to inflict pain, something that violent didn't look right on the small redhead.

Natasha stopped as she spotted the woman, walking toward her with ease, not making a sound on the soft rug that covered most of the floor, she was close enough to hear Saffron's breathing sped up slightly as the smaller woman stood and swung around with her gun drawn.

The two were face to face with the barrels of their guns an inch apart, Saffron's eyes flashed at Natasha's gun for a moment before she withdrew her own and apologized. Saffron was still guarded but was now not hostile and Natasha had no reason to pursue violence but she really didn't think that talking would work; she hadn't even known that the smaller woman had a gun on her. The agent now had to assume she is always armed and always had been because this gun was not the same one from earlier; Saffron had shot the attacker with his own gun.

"I don't like having someone trying to find a reason to hate me." Saffron looked the agent in the eyes, not feeling up to some sort of fire fight in the middle of her employer's library; Natasha gave her a critical look and holstered her gun. "Someone's going to find out what you're hiding, it might not be me but you're definitely not going to like it. Besides I thought you would like to know about who you might be facing soon. We got some information out of the man you shot." Not even waiting to see the redhead flinch, Natasha walked away and left her to follow.

Saffron blew out a deep breath and ran a hand through her light red hair, knowing that her life was about to get very difficult.

Following far behind Agent Romanoff her mind kept revolving on what the agent could possibly find in her search, besides her real identity there was nothing, in her very long life here she had left little evidence of herself, and it was something she found essential to her own safety. She had never actually been around others for this long of a period with no end in sight, one of the many reasons why she had kept to herself as much as possible while in the tower. She was already having a marvelously bad day, so as she walked into Tony's office, and all eyes turned to her it made the thought of curling up in the corner seem very nice. Holding in what her mind was screaming, she accompanied Tony at his screen, taking in the info he had pulled up.

"Well we have coordinates of a safe house that they used at one point, we couldn't get anything more permanent but it's more than we had, he also gave us his name, which led to his fellow comrades and their names. They were in with Loki's slaves, we have identified them in an image from the first attack and footage from the battle, but nothing has come up on this person. No one has any idea who she is, but I feel like I should know who this is. Is she one of yours?" Tony shot a look over to Clint and Natasha, both giving him glares that told him otherwise, Tony shrugged and turned back to the screen. The enlarged picture of a tall slender woman with three men with her, all of them looked similar with ski masks and all black clothes with semi-automatics in their hands. She stood out among them, wearing a long red dress with long black hair flowing down to her knees, looking like she was on her way to the red carpet. "This was taken in the lobby the first night Pepper was attacked, I've been trying to access it for weeks but I had a virus trying to kill my servers that night, we're lucky Jarvis could get this out of it. I've run her face through any recognition program I can get my hands on and nothing has come up."

"Tony have you considered bringing Fury in on this, he may know who she is or what she is." Clint tried his luck, not really keen on going after something he knew nothing about, he was smarter than that now. Tony's nostrils flared as he clenched his jaw and folded his arms, completely closing himself off to the idea, he and the one eyed agent had a lot of trust issues. "No, thank you, fly boy." He said through his teeth. Clint tried to start reasoning with him, telling him that he didn't have the kind of resources that S.H.I.E.L.D had, which led to the discussion becoming heated out of bruised egos.

Saffron decided to take this distraction and crept out of the room, seeing that both agents and Thor were trying to bring the argument to some place reasonable. She couldn't tell them that this was the woman she had seen in the man's head, or that she had been talking to him in the thought, telling him that none of them would be rescued if they got caught; she seemed ruthless and cruel in his eyes. It would be tricky but she had a feeling she knew how to find the woman.

,,,,,,,,,,

Steve watched as Saffron crept out of the room, her eyes had been trained on the photo of the strange woman for a few minutes before she decided to slip out, it made the soldier curious as to what she wasn't telling the rest of the team. He followed her down the hall and halfway to her bedroom before he called out to her.

"Saffron, would you like to go get some coffee?" Amazing himself by saying it without even a stutter, although it was more a business meeting rather than a date, this is what he was going to have to tell himself over and over so he didn't look like a fool. She seemed a bit startled, but smiled anyway. "Sure I would like that, but would it be alright if we go outside of the tower? I feel the need for a little fresh air." All Steve could do was nod as she walked onward to her room; Steve opened the door across from her and walked inside, they grabbed their coats and met again in the hallway, Saffron just having realized that she slept across the hall from the very large and extremely attractive Captain America. Her cheeks stayed slightly pink the whole ride down the elevator which left Saffron metaling kicking herself. With a past like hers, she knew she didn't deserve to feel the flutter in her stomach or enjoy the heady scent that was coming off of him and tickling her nose. Saffron tried to shake it off as just being alone for so long and that he was strong and standing so close to her. She could practically feel his body heat; which was actually possible considering what she read in his file: the Captain naturally burned a lot hotter than average men, due to the serum.

As the elevator finally stopped, they stepped out, and Steve opened the door for her as they entered the cold streets of New York. The silence lingered as they walked side by side, down the street and to a coffee kiosk on the corner, Saffron got her coffee and watched as Rodgers did his best to order a hot chocolate while looking as dignified as possible. Saffron hid a smile behind her cup as they moved on to circle the block while they sipped their chosen beverages. She couldn't help but want to be around the first avenger, there was something disarming about him, like he was a cold compress to a fresh wound or a warm blanket on the coldest of nights; she knew she shouldn't be alone with him or even have thoughts that involved him. She didn't deserve to drag someone else down her personal road to redemption, especially someone as good and honorable as Captain America, all she would do is corrupt him and drag him into the abyss that had swallowed her so many years ago.

"So where are you from originally? Or is that top secret?" Steve blurted out, trying to break the ice with what he thought would be humor but instead it made the small redhead look startled rather than amused. She looked at him for a moment before realizing that he wasn't serious, not like Natasha had been. "Sorry, if that's too personal, I know how you secret agents are about your…well your secrets." Steve offered a smile and quickly tried to change the subject until Saffron spoke.

"It's not really that it's a secret, it's more like a mystery. I know where I came from and who I was, but I can't ever go back there and I can never be who I use to be, so a better question would be where do I want to be from?" Saffron tried her best not to lie to him without telling him the truth, she saw that he was about to ask a question until she quickly changed the mood and started rambling to keep him from thinking too hard about it. "I think if I had the choice I would want to be from New Zealand, or somewhere beautiful and full of green forests and mountains, I think that would be a beautiful place to call home. That would be some of my favorite memories, if I had grown up there I would have learned to ride horseback and tend to fields, maybe even have an orchard where I could sit and read in the shade of the apple trees. It's a nice thought. " She smiled at him and saw his furrowed brow ease and relax until he was smiling too.

The pair rounded another corner and found themselves back at the towers entrance, Saffron stepped forward to grab the door until she noticed Steve just standing there, staring up at the tall structure. She retreated back to his side and looked up as well, realizing just a second too late that she was standing so close to him, his fingertips brushed her wrist and sent a wave of heat throughout her body. She stood as still as possible; not wanting him to know how much he effected her.

She must have been thinking too hard or staring at the stars for too long because she wasn't aware of the Captain calling her name until he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building, all she could do was stare at their joined hands. She knew she needed to pull away but there was no part in her body that tried to make that happen. Back in the elevator, he still held her hand, either not realizing or not caring that she was still reeling from the contact. Steve finally looked down at her and noticed her distress, releasing her hand and let out an awkward chuckle. "Sorry, I was just thinking we should get back and get some rest before things start to get crazy." He offered a smile at her dazed expression, not sure why she was so startled by him grabbing her hand. Saffron just nodded her head and faced forward, trying not to think about the tingling in her hand from the loss of his. Steve still didn't know why she was reacting in such a way, "I'm sorry if I scared you, you seemed lost in thought out there and so I just figured..." Saffron put her hand up, the very one that he had held.

"Don't worry about it, Captain. I just haven't interacted with anyone …physically in a long time, so don't worry yourself." She grinned at him and tried to play it off. The doors opened and they walked together to their opposing rooms. "When you say physically, is that something that Stark would make a wisecrack about or do you mean any physical touch?" Steve spoke rigidly, not chancing a glance at her because he could already feel the heat in his face, no matter how much muscle and strength the serum had given him, he was still a skinny kid from Brooklyn. They stopped at their doors and she turned to him and tried to stealthily hide her smile as she noticed his cheeks were almost the same light red as her hair.

"I mean at all, I've been on my own for a most of my life so besides my job I haven't really been around people too much, side effect of the job I suppose. " Shrugging the events of the day off as she did most days, she turned to open her door. His voice halted her hands, not so much the words but the emotion she could hear in it.

"No one deserves to go that long without knowing comfort." She looked at his blue eyes and saw the loneliness that lived there, it mirrored her own. He took a step forward extending his hand, but she shook her head as she backed into her room, just out of his reach. Trying to ignore the lump in her throat, she tried to contain her tears as the only truth that kept her sane came out of her mouth. "I do." A tear slipped down her cheek as she closed the door on the first person in a long time that seemed to actually see her as a living breathing being rather than a piece of artillery or a threat. Sliding down to the ground, she listened as he turned and went into his room and closed the door.

"This really is what I deserve, isn't it Balder?" She quietly hissed into the air, trying to contain herself but failing miserably, she let out a long breath.

,,,,,,

Watching as Saffron closed her door, Steve felt an ache in his heart for how convinced she sounded that she deserved to be alone. He stood there for a moment having an internal war with himself, whether to push the subject or just turn and go to bed; finally deciding that if she wanted her privacy he would give it to her. Opening his door he looked back once more before closing it, he shed his clothes he slipped into bed, feeling more ready for sleep than ever.

That night Steve had the same dream, it started and ended the same way but he hadn't been asleep for very long because when he woke, it was almost sunrise, just about when the sky was starting to lighten. Rising from his bed he tried to stretch away the strange dream but knowing it would be at the back of his mind all day, maybe he could talk to one of the medical staff Tony had constantly on hand. Shaking it off, he pulled on some sweat pants and left his room, feeling the need to go for a run today, but something stopped him as he closed his door. Saffron's door stood ajar, the lights were out and no one was in the room, making sure that it hadn't been broken into he gently closed the door and made his way to the gym's locker room and dug out some running shoes that had been provided for him when S.H.I.E.L.D woke him up. As he sat to put them on he looked up and saw Saffron directly across from him but on the far side of the room, she looked like she was deep in thought while she dried her hair with a towel. She looked so small and fragile sitting there with bare feet poking out of the bottoms of black sweatpants, her freckled shoulders left bare in a flimsy shirt that covered only what was necessary, which sent his mind thinking of things that would have made Bucky blush. Shaking his head clear, he called out to her.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Jumping slightly as she looked up and saw him, and noticing how very shirtless he was, but kept her eyes trained on his as he stood and walked towards her. She nodded her head and looked down at the towel in her hands, not really wanting to be under those burning blue eyes at the moment, she had a long night of self-loathing and being around him made her feel almost bad about it.

"So… how about this weather we're having, huh?" It came out so nonchalant that she couldn't help but crack a smile and laugh at his attempt at casual. Looking up at his smiling face she saw that he was trying to cheer her up and break the tension. Smiling at him as she stood, she realized her mistake immediately; Saffron was almost chest to chest with the Captain. It was right away that Steve noticed it as well, his body not willing to step back but his brain knew he should, or at least should want to. She looked up at him and tried not to focus on his bare skin or the heat she could feel from him or the expansive muscles of his chest that were now very close to her face, but instead she focused on the most dangerous of all, his eyes that seemed to be burning into her own. After a moment he realized that he was leaning down toward her, just as she started to lean towards him, her breath became shallow and quick as he heard a door open in the gym, and footsteps approaching.

Both of them blinked and took a step back, realizing what was happening, or about to happen, and both of them mumbled some excuse and went their opposite ways. Steve forgot about his run and headed to the showers in the back part of the locker room. Blasting the cold water he tried to think about anything but how good she had smelled or how soft her lips looked or how much he wished he had kissed her.

Saffron went back to her room and sat of her bed, her fingers brushed her lips, thinking about what it would have felt like if they had touched his. Shaking her head she dressed in more business appropriate attire and went to get coffee and find her employer, unable to deny the feeling that something was about to change.

…...

(Hope you like it! Read & Review please! Ill take good criticism, bad criticism, whatever you wanna say, just let me know! :)


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